Samsung’s two insurance affiliates on Thursday left the door open to overseas deals potentially worth up to 9 trillion won ($6.6 billion), stopping short of denying reports linking them to major acquisitions in the UK and the US.

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance is reportedly considering taking control of London-based specialty insurer Canopius, while Samsung Life Insurance is said to be weighing the purchase of about 15 percent of US financial group Principal Financial Group.

In separate regulatory filings, both insurers said no decisions had been made. Samsung Fire said it was “expanding its global business in search of new growth drivers,” while Samsung Life said it was reviewing investment opportunities at home and abroad.

The Korea Economic Daily estimated that Samsung Fire could spend 2 trillion won to 3 trillion won to raise its Canopius stake, while Samsung Life’s potential investment in Principal Financial could reach 5 trillion won to 6 trillion won.

The push comes as South Korea’s insurance market is mature and fiercely competitive, pushing the country’s largest insurers to look abroad for growth. A deal of the reported scale would rank among the largest overseas acquisitions by a Korean financial company.

From partner to potential control

Samsung Fire’s relationship with Canopius dates to 2019, when it acquired 15.3 percent of Fortuna Topco, the holding company that owns the specialty insurer. It raised that stake to 40 percent in 2025.

In its 2024 integrated report, the Korean insurer said the investment was intended partly to build expertise in the Lloyd’s market and “secure the option of acquiring management control over the medium to long term.”

Buying most of the remaining shares would transform Samsung Fire from a strategic investor into the controlling shareholder of a global specialty insurer.

Canopius already provides Samsung Fire with access to specialty underwriting expertise, the Lloyd’s market and international broker networks. Taking control could make specialty insurance and reinsurance a bigger pillar of Samsung Fire’s largely domestic business.

Such a move would also align with the insurer’s 2026 strategy, which calls for making overseas operations “a key engine of company-wide growth.” The plan identifies Lloyd’s as a platform for expansion into Europe and North America and calls for deeper cooperation with Canopius.

Samsung Life widens its M&A search

Samsung Life, for its part, has been preparing for a broader overseas push.

Chief Financial Officer Lee Wan-sam said during an August earnings call that the insurer was “actively looking at M&A opportunities in developed markets such as US, as well as in Asia.”

“We have begun reviewing a range of investment opportunities at home and abroad as we look for new growth drivers,” a Samsung Life official said Thursday, describing the process as preliminary.

In July, Samsung Life decided to buy back its New York and London investment subsidiaries from Samsung Asset Management, citing global business expansion.

Principal Financial Group, the reported target, is a major US retirement and asset management company with $808 billion in assets under management as of the second quarter. Its businesses span retirement services, asset management and employee benefits.

A minority stake could give Samsung Life access to Principal’s overseas retirement and asset management capabilities without requiring management control. Samsung Life has not confirmed that it is pursuing the investment.

Dividend windfall adds firepower

The reports come as the insurers stand to receive substantial dividends from their holdings in Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Life owns about 8.51 percent of Samsung Electronics’ common shares, while Samsung Fire holds about 1.49 percent, giving them a combined stake of roughly 10 percent.

Samsung Electronics last month projected 90 trillion won to 110 trillion won in shareholder returns this year, including about 30 trillion won in third-quarter cash dividends.

Based on their current holdings, Samsung Life could receive about 2.55 trillion won from that payout and Samsung Fire about 450 billion won.

Neither insurer has said the dividends would finance a potential acquisition. But industry watchers say the windfall could give both companies greater flexibility to pursue multitrillion-won overseas deals.

Any concrete deal would still hinge on the insurers confirming their intentions, agreeing terms with sellers and securing approvals from financial regulators in the relevant jurisdictions, a process that can take months. For now, both companies say only that their reviews are at an early stage.